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Wallace-Woodworth calls for water conservation to avoid system shut-down

Drastically dry weather is calling for conservation measures.
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A notice on the RM of Wallace-Woodworth website giving guidelines on how to conserve water.

Drastically dry weather is calling for conservation measures. The RM of Wallace-Woodworth has put out a request for those on their water pipeline to slow down water consumption, asking people to think twice before they turn on the tap for extra uses beyond daily sanitation and drinking.

“We are experiencing extremely high water usage that is exceeding our plant’s ability to produce treated water,” says CAO for Wallace-Woodworth Garth Mitchell. “It’s not an issue of … our supply well.”

The water conservation came as a notice phone call and said essentially this:

The continued high demand for water has pushed our system to a critical state. In the spring there’s always a spike in consumption but this year, usage is at an extreme level.

Demand is well over the Plant’s production limits. Currently, peak usage is at a rate of 43 litres per second (568 gallons per minute (while the plant is at a rate of 20-26 litres per second (265 – 340 gallons per minute).

 

At this current rate of demand, we will reach the point of depletion in our reservoir and we will be forced to shut down our Water Distribution System. This system shutdown will be for a minimum of 24 – 48 hours to allow for the water reservoir to be replenished. Afterwards, it will put the system under a “BOIL WATER ADVISORY” for a period of time following that.

 

This situation of extremely high-water demands has forced the following actions:

1. IMMEDIATELY SHUT OFF TREATED WATER TRUCK FILLS at Kola and at Ward 2 Water Treatment Plant.

We request all users to use the R.M. untreated water wells in the interim.

 

2. IMMEDIATELY REMOVE ALL WATER CHARGES at all the R.M.’s Untreated Community Well locations

Location details are as follows:

• Elkhorn Fair Grounds Well SE 4 – 12 – 28 W

• Joslin Well NW 3 – 12 – 26 W

• Kirkella Well NE 16 – 12 – 29 W

• Painted Rock Well NW 19 – 10 – 27 W

FOR UNTREATED COMMUNITY WELLS, PLEASE OPEN PANEL BEHIND THE NOTICE and operate the manual ON/OFF switch.

 

To avoid this crisis situation, please help by doing everything possible to minimize consumption.

 

We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your understanding as we work ourselves through this water crisis.

 

For recreation and cooling off in this heat wave, Reston and Elkhorn were frantically working to get their spray parks into operation since the government suddenly gave the go-ahead to operate these.

But Reeve of Pipestone Archie MacPherson said Reston’s spray park may not spring to life due to the caution on water usage from their supplier, the RM of Wallace-Woodworth.  However, the little lake is in a great place to cool off. Residents can go thereto cool down rather than running their own sprinklers.

The RM of Wallace-Woodworth operates a water pipeline to places as distant as Maryfield, Saskatchewan and into the RM of Pipestone, as well as serving all of Ward 2 portion of Wallace-Woodworth (Kenton has a separate supply).

Water sourced in the Miniota Valley is pumped to a treatment station nearby within the RM of W-W. There’s a reservoir there and from that, pumps push the water thousands of kilometres.

So, the water is there, but the system cannot process it quickly enough to keep up to high demand in this dry spring.

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